The Stars at Night

The Briscoe Museum celebrates Western art with the 24th entry to its growing Night of Artists exhibition.

By Michael Clawson

The festivities were off the charts at the Briscoe Western Art Museum as it opened the 24th annual Night of Artists exhibition in San Antonio, Texas. The show generated $2 million in sales, including $451,000 in the live auction.

Participating artists from the 2025 Night of Artists.“This year’s Night of Artists showcased the incredible talent and vision of today’s top Western artists, and we are thrilled by the enthusiastic response from collectors and guests,” says Liz Jackson, president and CEO at the Briscoe. “The energy, excitement and record-breaking sales reinforce the importance of preserving and celebrating Western art. We are grateful to our artists, patrons and supporters for making this event such a success.”

Briscoe Western Art Museum’s Dawn Robinette, left, with museum president Liz Jackson and Western Art Collector co-publisher Wendie Martin.

Eighty-five artists and 270 works were included in the show, and many of the artists were on hand for the opening weekend, greeting collectors as their works sold during three separate buying events: a miniature sale, the live auction and the main buy-draw sale that closed the weekend festivities.

An auctioneer offers a Don Oelze painting during the live auction.

Thomas Blackshear II, The Blue Bird, oil on linen, 35 x 22 in.

In addition to strong sales, the by-draw also featured an innovative new draw system that will surely be copied and adopted by other museums. Bidders were given bid books with white paper and green paper. A white bid was a normal bid that, when drawn, would need to be approved by the bidder before it could be marked sold. A green bid indicated to museum staff that the buyer didn’t need to approve the sale and the work being drawn for could be marked sold immediately. This innovative approach to the classic fixed-price, by-draw format was a hit and allowed collectors to mingle without having to scour the exhibit for their names as the bidding periods passed.

Dustin Payne, What Man Can Conceive, bronze, 37 x 20 x 10 in.One noteworthy sale from the live auction was a wolf painting from Bonnie Marris that sold for $103,000, the top lot in the live auction. The sale only had one work that didn’t sell, and even it sold during the by-draw the following night. These live auction results, $450,000 in total, are going to be the high-water mark for future Night of Artistsexhibitions.

Award winners were Martin Grelle, who won the Sam Houston Painting Award; Ed Natiya, the winner of the James Bowie Award for Sculpture; William Haskell won the David Crockett Award for Artists’ Choice; T. Allen Lawson won the Alamo Award for Best Body of Work; and Thomas Blackshear II won the William B. Travis Award for Patron’s Choice, which was sponsored by Western Art Collector. Sculptor Dustin Payne won the Museum Purchase Award for his wall-mounted bronze What Man Can Conceive, depicting Abraham Lincoln on Mount Rushmore.